Your WooCommerce store finally gets a viral product mention. Traffic spikes. Instead of ringing sales notifications, your screen fills with 502 Bad Gateway errors. Your cheap shared hosting has failed you again.
You need real cloud hosting. But you start looking, and the options are paralyzing.
Eventually, you narrow it down to the classic developer dilemma: Cloudways vs Vultr. Do you want raw, unfiltered server power? Or do you want a managed platform that handles the technical heavy lifting for you?
I have spent years migrating, breaking, and optimizing client sites on both platforms. Let’s break down exactly how these two hosting giants compare, so you can pick the right one for your business.
TL;DR: Key Takeaways
Before we dive into the deep end, here is the 30-second summary:
- Choose Vultr if: You are a developer, you know your way around a Linux terminal, and you want the absolute lowest price per server resource.
- Choose Cloudways if: You are a business owner, an agency, or a non-technical developer who wants incredible speed without touching a command line.
- The Secret: Cloudways actually uses Vultr’s data centers behind the scenes. You are essentially comparing raw Vultr vs a managed wrapper built on top of Vultr.
Want the easy route? Try Cloudways here and use code PROMO30 for 30% off your first three months.
What is Vultr? The Raw Cloud Power
Vultr is a raw Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) provider. You rent a virtual machine in one of their 32 global data centers.
When you spin up a server on Vultr, you get a blank operating system. It is essentially an empty digital warehouse. You have to build the shelves, install the lighting, and set the security alarms yourself.
Vultr Pricing & Features
Vultr is incredibly cheap.
Their Cloud Compute instances start at just $2.50 per month. That gets you 1 CPU core, 512MB of RAM, and 10GB of SSD storage. For a real WordPress site, you will likely use the $6 to $12 per month plans, which offer 1GB to 2GB of RAM.
Pros of Vultr:
* Unbeatable pricing for raw specs.
* Full root access to your server.
* 32 global data centers for perfect latency.
* High-frequency compute options (3+ GHz processors).
Cons of Vultr:
* Zero managed support for applications.
* You must install your own web stack (Nginx, Apache, PHP, MySQL).
* You manage your own server security and OS updates.
* No built-in WordPress caching or one-click SSL.
If you break your server, Vultr support will tell you to fix it yourself. They only guarantee the network and the hardware.
What is Cloudways? The Managed Hosting Layer
Cloudways is a Platform as a Service (PaaS). They do not own data centers. Instead, they rent servers from Vultr, DigitalOcean, AWS, Google Cloud, and Linode.
Then, they put a beautiful, user-friendly dashboard on top of those raw servers. They install a highly optimized web stack (Nginx, Apache, PHP-FPM, MySQL, Redis).
You get a fully functioning, blazing-fast server without needing a computer science degree.
Cloudways Pricing & Features
Because you are paying for the management layer, Cloudways costs a bit more than raw Vultr.
The most popular plan is the Vultr High Frequency server on Cloudways, which starts at $14.41 per month (if you pay monthly). That gets you 1 CPU core, 1GB RAM, 25GB storage, and 1TB bandwidth.
Pros of Cloudways:
* One-click SSL certificate installation.
* Built-in advanced caching (Breeze) for WordPress.
* Free automated daily backups.
* Dedicated Slack and ticket support for server issues.
* Staging environments for testing site updates safely.
Cons of Cloudways:
* More expensive than buying raw Vultr.
* No native email hosting (you must use a third party like Google Workspace or Rackspace).
* No cPanel or traditional control panel (you must use their custom dashboard).
You can Check Cloudways pricing to see their exact plans for different cloud providers.
Head-to-Head Comparison: Cloudways vs Vultr
Let’s look at how these platforms perform in the real world based on my personal experience.
Ease of Use and Dashboard
Vultr’s dashboard is clean but highly technical. You select your server size, choose your OS (usually Ubuntu), and hit deploy. From there, you are on your own to SSH into the server using a terminal. You will be typing commands to install everything.
Cloudways is built for visual learners and busy professionals. You click a few buttons to provision a server. You click another button to install WordPress.
When you need to upgrade your PHP version on Cloudways, it is a simple dropdown menu. On raw Vultr, it requires running terminal commands and potentially breaking your site if you miss a dependency.
Performance and Speed
Technically, raw Vultr should be faster because there is no overhead. But in reality, Cloudways is usually faster for everyday users.
Why? Because Cloudways pre-configures the server for maximum speed. They use Nginx as a reverse proxy, optimize PHP-FPM settings, and offer a 1-click Redis Object Cache integration.
Unless you are an advanced server administrator who can custom-build a stack better than the Cloudways engineering team, Cloudways will give you better real-world load times.
Security and Backups
Security on Vultr is entirely up to you. You must configure your UFW firewall, disable root logins, set up SSH keys, and install fail2ban to stop brute-force attacks. You also have to set up cron jobs for your own database backups.
Cloudways automates all of this.
- Firewalls: They provide a 1-click bot protection system.
- Backups: Automatic daily backups are included for an extra $0.033 per GB.
- SSL: Free Let’s Encrypt SSLs are installed and renewed automatically.
- Staging: You can clone your site to a staging URL to test new plugins without touching the live site.
For a business owner, automated security is worth the extra monthly cost.
The Pricing Reality Check
Let’s do a direct price comparison for a standard 1GB RAM server.
The Raw Vultr Route:
* Server cost: ~$6.00/month.
* Server management software (like RunCloud or ServerPilot): ~$8.00/month.
* Your time spent managing updates: Priceless.
* Total: ~$14.00/month.
The Cloudways Route:
* Server cost (Vultr High Frequency via Cloudways): $14.41/month.
* Management software: Included.
* Your time spent managing updates: Near zero.
* Total: ~$14.41/month.
When you factor in the cost of third-party management panels for raw Vultr, the price difference becomes negligible. You might as well use Cloudways.
Who Should Use Vultr?
You should use Vultr directly if you fit this specific profile:
- You are a backend developer or studying computer science.
- You are deploying a custom application (Node.js, Python, Django) rather than WordPress.
- You are running a massive network of microsites and need to squeeze every penny out of your hosting budget.
- You actually enjoy writing bash scripts and configuring Nginx rules.
If you want to check out raw server pricing, check Vultr pricing here.
Who Should Use Cloudways?
This is where I put my stamp of approval. At BriskPick, we look for tools that save you time while delivering premium results. Cloudways is exactly that tool.
You should use Cloudways if:
- You run an eCommerce store (WooCommerce, Magento).
- You are a freelance web designer managing multiple client sites.
- You blog for a living and need high traffic spikes to not crash your site.
- You have been held hostage by expensive, slow shared hosting (like Bluehost or GoDaddy) and want a seamless migration.
Cloudways takes the headache out of cloud hosting. You get enterprise-level speed without needing an enterprise-level IT team.
Ready to make the switch? Try Cloudways here to launch your first server in minutes.
Our Verdict: The Bottom Line
The Cloudways vs Vultr debate is really a question of time vs money.
Vultr gives you cheap, raw computing power. It is an excellent product, but it requires a skilled developer to turn it into a usable web host.
Cloudways provides a premium, managed service. It uses Vultr’s excellent hardware but wraps it in an interface that makes it accessible to everyday business owners.
Bottom Line: If you want to focus on growing your business instead of managing Linux servers, Cloudways is the clear winner. The slight premium you pay per month is easily made up in saved hours of troubleshooting.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Is Cloudways faster than Vultr?
For most users, yes. Cloudways uses Vultr’s High Frequency servers by default and applies an advanced, pre-configured caching stack that outperforms a basic raw Vultr setup.
Can I host email on Cloudways or Vultr?
Neither platform provides native email hosting. With Cloudways, you simply integrate a third-party email provider like Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, or Rackspace.
Does Cloudways use Vultr?
Yes. Cloudways allows you to choose your underlying cloud provider. You can select Vultr High Frequency directly through the Cloudways dashboard to get the best of both worlds.
Do I need coding skills to use Vultr?
Yes. To host a website on raw Vultr, you will need to be comfortable using a terminal to SSH into your server, install a web stack, and configure your firewalls manually.
Can I upgrade my server easily?
Cloudways offers vertical scaling, allowing you to add more RAM and CPU with a single click. Raw Vultr also allows scaling, but you usually have to take a snapshot of your server and deploy a new, larger instance from that snapshot.